CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I'm looking to set up a 20H African cichlid tank. I've never had any Africans before and would like to get some that are colorful yet easy to breed. I'd like to hear what your ideal setup would be as far as species, # of fish, tank size, and decor(caves, ect.). Thanks!

20 gallons is a bit small for breeding Africans. You could just about get away with three (one male and two female) dwarf mbuna, such as Labidochromis spp, or Pseudotropheus demasoni.

Or perhaps a small shoal of Neolamprologus brichardii. I've seen a shoal of these produce large quantities of fry in a 5 gallon tank in a fish shop.

If you want some serious colour and action and you don't mind a bit of overcrowding you could get a pair of electric yellow Labidochromis and a pair of Psedotropheus demasoni. Irridescent purple-blue and black fish chasing electric yellow fish round and round in circles and vice versa. Both of these fish breed like rabbits.

Make sure you get a male and a female of each! Most African Rift Valley cichlids are easy to sex: look at the openings in front of the anal fin under a lens. Males have two equal-sized openings; females have one small and one large. Decent stores will be able to help you with this.

I'm planning to buy some Pseudtropheus demasoni to go in a 40 gallon breeding tank with some L. caeruleus, but the only ones I've found so far are in dreadful condition.

I found about 50 of these at a local convenience super market. They were in excellent condition with nice color so I picked out 15 of them. What do they cost in your area? I might go buy the rest and throw them all in my 55... Keep in touch because if they breed like rabbits I'll have plenty to get rid of...

The ones I've seen are £7.50 each, which I think is WAY overpriced, especially considering the condition they were in. How much were your fish?

They were $3.69 at the convenience store, however, a LFS wanted $10 each or 3 for $27... Quite a difference, huh? Anyway, back to the subject of breeding them. The LFS did offer expert advice and had available African Cichlid Substrate Mix as well as a Lake Victoria/Malawi water conditioner which he said gave his fish slightly better color and also produced better results when breeding. He also said LOTS of rocks and caves. Can you or anyone else offer any more suggestions? Also, can you explain the F0, F1, F2, ect.. that is used to describe generations of fish on Aquabid. I'm assuming that an FO means wild caught, F1 offspring of wild caught, ect. Thanks!

My tap water is hard and alkaline, so I haven't worried about special substrates or conditioners. The local LFS will be able to help you with local water issues.

Yes, make sure there are plenty of caves: small ones, big ones, caves with multiple entrances, tiny cracks and crevices, skyscrapers... In my 40 gallon tank I've got a few pieces of lava rock which do the job nicely. In my 15 gallon nursery tank (which currently holds seven electric yellow fry) I use pieces of broken plant pot and a few ceramic tubes (originally used to support kiln shelves). In my 180 gallon I'm using gravel and slabs of metamorphic sandstone in one half of the tank and sand and bogwood in the other half. My Mbuna (cave dwellers) seem to live in the sandy half and my Nimbochromis (sand dwellers) prefer the rocky side of the tank

A variation of the ceramic tubes idea is to get some plastic pipe, cut it into small sections, coat them in an appropriate adhesive and roll them in gravel.

But you probably don't need to think about decorations too much--just toss in a bag of gravel and a bunch of largish rocks and the fish will build thier own caves just how they like them

BTW how big are your fish? I'm guessing that your 20H is 2' x 1' x 1.5', in which case 15 P. demasoni will rapidly outgrow it. These little fish can get wickedly aggressive, especially when they are breeding.

If they are tiny then your 20H is a perfect tank to rear them in before adding the to your 55G. A shoal of 15 should breed like rabbits in the 55G (although you may still get a couple of fatalities in this tank as the males sort out their pecking order) and you can remove holding mothers to the 20H, where they can raise their fry away from the shoal.

I have a 2' x 1' x 1.25' tank which currently holds 7 L. caeruleus fry. It could easily hold 30-40 fry of this size, but in a few months' time, the seven fry will have outgrown this tank (way before they are breeding age) and I will need to find other tank space for them.

If you lived locally to me I would try to convince you that you have too many fish for you 20H and that the only humane solution was to give me half your shoal. As it is, we live an ocean apart, so I have little choice but to wish you luck

Something tells me you're going to be wanting a few more tanks in the near future--breeding tropical fish can get very interesting

I already WANT more tanks.. But my wife says 10 is enough and that I don't NEED any more.. ...so I promised her I wouldn't BUY any but I didn't say anything about trading! That's why I've arranged to trade my grown up fry at a LFS for more tanks... I've got 2 29G that I just added African Cichlid mix(substrate) too but that stuff has got the water extremely cloudy right now and I won't add any fish until it's cleared up and I've cycled them using my other cichlids. I found a guy with some Ruby Green Trios and Hap. sp. 44 fry. Are those pretty common or not? The pics he had were beautiful!

I have a 29 gallon tank with 2 Aulnocara Nyassae icy blue pea****s, 3 yellow Labs, 3 Julii Transcriptus, and 3 blue paradise gouramis. I'm new to raising cichlids and could use some advice.

I read the description of how to sex the yellow labs, but I'm still having trouble. One hole, two holes... ?? Not having much luck with the pea****s/juliis either. The gouramis seem to be the fancy tailed males vs. the more plain females - right? My LFS guy said the Juliis will pair up naturally and the pea****s will have a dominant male by color and the lesser male may look like a female in color to show his subordination.

Two labs (that I thought were males) are chasing each other in circles, which I assume is a sign of romance. Both still have their normal appetite. And someone in that tank, I haven't been able to determine whom, has been moving the gravel into large heaps, which again I take as a promising sign.

Also, in a 20H tank I have some guppies, mollies, platties, etc that I'm tempted to trade in at LFS. I've added 2 Laetacara Curviceps or Dorsigeris "sheeps Head" cichlids, which I find much more interesting. How do I sex these? Anyone have any experince with them?
Any thoghts or tips on breeding these 5 (not the mollies/guppies/platties!) would be appreciated. Congratulations on a great website!:)

I'm not into breeding africans (yet anyways) so just take what I say as just my oponion because that's all it is. Maybe some of the people more involved with africans can add some more info later.

I read the description of how to sex the yellow labs, but I'm still having trouble. One hole, two holes... ??

check out this info it should prove helpful

I have a 29 gallon tank with 2 Aulnocara Nyassae icy blue pea****s, 3 yellow Labs, 3 Julii Transcriptus, and 3 blue paradise gouramis. I'm new to raising cichlids and could use some advice.

Thats ALOT of fish in one tank to try to get them to breed,cutting down or moving some would probally help alot.
Also If I was hopeing to get them to breed I wouldn't house gouramis and cichlids together unless it was in a massive tank.

Thanks for the info Stillearnin, you're a goldmine.
After reading the article on fish sexing, now I know why the LFS guy said I could/should try buying 5-6 of each fish to try to get at least one pair. He seemed pretty knowledgeable about cichlids - after all, he got me interested in them. Boy, do I have a lot to learn...... Thanks again. Linda

I forgot to mention your fish - they look great! What an interesting variety you have. Doesn't it take forever to take care of them? Or is that where your ingenious auto-water-changing system helps so much? Any secrets to share? L

I forgot to mention your fish - they look great! What an interesting variety you have.

Thanks

Doesn't it take forever to take care of them?

sometimes,but it beats getting up and going to work

Or is that where your ingenious auto-water-changing system helps so much?

my used to be thought of as ingenious auto changing system did help some but it didn't replace normal water changes or vac.

as I say used to - since I THOUGHT I had it planned out - then learned otherwise - water running 24/7 and well pumps don't mix as I learned yesterday,rember that just in case anyone else thinks about a system like that. --It'll be fixed and working again shortly as soon a the warden leaves me alone with some tools for a while but well pumps aren't cheap to replace